Modi govt providing energy justice to all: Pradhan

Union Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Dharmendra Pradhan has said under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, India has made tremendous strides in providing energy justice to all.

While addressing a gathering at the Indian Embassy in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, on Saturday, the Union minister said during the Modi government's regime, their endeavour has been to provide affordable, sustainable and clean cooking fuel, energy and electricity to all and that has also made India an attractive investment spot, especially in the energy sector.

"Under the leadership of PM Modi, India in the last four years has made tremendous strides in providing energy justice to all. Our government's endeavour to provide affordable, sustainable and clean cooking fuel, energy and electricity provides a plethora of investment opportunities in India," he said while addressing over 250 Indian professionals, business leaders and community representatives working in the UAE.

Further talking about the achievement of the Modi government, Pradhan, who is on a three-day visit to the UAE, said, "It has been 70 years of Independence, still there was no electricity in 18,000 villages in last two years. But in last two months, the electricity has reached to almost every village."

"In about 4 crore houses, there is no electricity. But by 2019-20, we will provide electricity to every house in the country," he added.

He further highlighted the attractive investment opportunities in the Petroleum and Natural Gas and Skill Development sectors in India and also extended an invitation to the business community in the UAE for greater collaborations and increased investments in India.

Yesterday, Pradhan and UAE Minister of State and Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) Group CEO Dr. Sultan Al Jaber flagged off the first consignment of 2 million barrels of ADNOC crude for Mangalore Cavern on Saturday.

During the day, Pradhan also held a bilateral meeting with H.E. Dr. Jaber. Minister Pradhan was accompanied by Ambassador Navdeep Suri, senior officials and CEOs for Indian Oil, Bharat Petroleum and Hindustan Petroleum.

Pradhan is visiting UAE to follow up on the February 2018 UAE visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

During the visit of the Prime Minister, Indian Strategic Petroleum Reserves Ltd (ISPRL) signed an agreement with the ADNOC of UAE under which the latter will store about 5.86 million barrels of crude oil in India's Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) facility at Mangalore at its own cost.